Annie gave one final yank, ripping me out of Tabitha’s grip once and for all. Tabitha faded away without a sound, and I flowed back into myself, reattaching to my own body. Everything came back to me in a rush that left me feeling dizzy and a little nauseous. Even the slightest sounds were like thunder crashing in my ears. My arms and legs were heavy and tingled from being unable to move while they were tied to the bed. My vision was the last thing to return to me, bringing Finn into focus with it.
He was standing at my bedside, gripping my hand tightly in his. One look at him and I began to sob until I couldn’t breathe. He untied my arm closest to him and gently scooted me over on the bed so he could climb in beside me. His arms went around me and he pulled me close, letting me lean on him for support. I laid my head on his chest as tears ran down my face, getting his shirt wet.
I was so exhausted I couldn’t even make out any of the words he whispered in my ears, but I knew just by the tone of his voice that they were sweet and encouraging. In a rare display of affection and caring, he cradled my head against his chest, stroking my hair while I cried over the events of the last couple of days.
Finn blocked out everything in the room, including my friends and my teacher. I would deal with them later, but for now I didn’t have the strength to handle Tanya’s tears or to beg them for their forgiveness. I only had one question for Annie; everything else except for Finn would have to wait.
My throat burned from crying and screaming and my voice cracked as I spoke. “Is it finally over?”
Annie regarded me calmly, but I could make out the worry in her eyes. “Get some rest, Ronnie,” she said, avoiding my question. “God knows you’ve earned it.”
I was far too spent to worry about what her non-answer meant. Part of me didn’t even really care to try and work it out. Instead, I repositioned myself on Finn’s chest and closed my eyes as his strong arms instinctively tightened around me. I knew he would keep me safe while I got some much needed rest.
Chapter Sixteen
“There’s nothing wrong with her,” Finn said tightly. “She’s gonna be just fine. You wait and see.”
Annie sighed heavily, sounding more resigned than annoyed. “I know you want to believe that everything will work out, but there’s always a chance it won’t, Finn. The experience Ronnie went through is unimaginable, and even the strongest person would be left with emotional and mental scars for the remainder of their lives. She’ll need all the love and support we can give her if she’s going to have a chance of recovering. But you need to be prepared in case she never returns to her old self.”
“You think she’ll end up like Tabitha, don’t you?” Finn accused. “You’ve already given up on her!”
Annie was silent for a minute. “Don’t assume you’re the only one here who cares for her. She’s more than just a student to me—much more. She’s a friend, a little sister. I want her to make a full recovery. I want her to be able to put this all behind her and move on with her life. But I’m not naïve or foolish enough to believe it will be that easy. There was darkness in her long before Tabitha and Andrew came around, and she opened herself up to it while she was being inhabited. She’s vulnerable right now.”
“Whatever darkness is in her…Ronnie will beat it. She’s way stronger than anyone gives her credit for. She’s fought hard and always come out on top, no matter what gets thrown at her. She even beat the loss of her mother. I won’t let her end up like Tabitha and Andrew. Neither will Tanya, Ezra, or Holly. They’re her family as much as you are. We won’t let her go without a fight.”
“That’s good to hear, but it’s not all on you guys. There are a lot of things Ronnie will need to work out for herself, and none of you will be able to help her, even though you’ll want to. It will be frustrating and it will put a strain on your relationship.”
“We’ll manage,” I said, opening my eyes. “Finn and I have been through a lot together. They’ve all been by my side since the day I got here, and I won’t ever forget that, no matter how hard things get for me.” I looked over at Tanya, Holly, and Ezra standing around near the other side of the room. “I won’t ever push you guys away, I promise. You’re my family, and I won’t forget that.”
Tanya was the first to come over to my side. She looked much better than she had the last time I’d seen her. Her wings were almost back to their normal luminous state, and her hair was washed and clean, just like her face. There was no trace of the black poison under the skin, and she looked healthy and strong. Only her large turquoise eyes showed what she had suffered through. They were filled with unshed tears as she looked down at me.
“Tanya, I’m sorry for what happened. I tried to stop her, but she was too powerful.”
“Oh, Ronnie!” She threw her bony arms around me, nearly squeezing the life from me. “Nobody here blames you for what happened to us. We know it wasn’t your fault. We know you’d never do anything to hurt us. There’s nothing for you to apologize about.” When she pulled away from me, I saw Ezra and Holly moving in, coming up on either side of her.
“Ronnie, it’s okay,” Holly said in her normal, soft voice. She sounded strong again, which I was thankful for. “But I have a question about something that’s been bugging me. If Tabitha had control of your body and she wanted us dead or suffering, why did she let me feed from her? That’s not something she would have ever willingly done for someone.”
“No, but I convinced her that I would have done it for you without hesitation. I told her that people were already beginning to notice that something was wrong with the way she was acting. If she wanted to keep the charade going long enough to complete her plans, she couldn’t just let you die. And I told her that. So she reluctantly let you feed from her, even though she was terrified to do it. She also provoked Kevin in the Council meeting room until he attacked her.”
“Kevin’s shortcomings are his fault and his alone. I heard about the bodies in the lake. Marcel sent someone out there immediately, and Tabitha was right. They pulled eight bodies from the lake, all of young African-American women who bore a striking resemblance to Holly,” Annie said, eyeing Holly with concern. “No wonder you’ve been stuck here for so damn long.”
Holly snorted. “He was never going to let go of me. But now he’s long gone, and the High Council will deal with him. I’m free for the first time since I came here. In a strange way, I owe it all to Tabitha. If she hadn’t been such a vindictive bitch, Kevin would still be a member on the Council, and he would still be killing girls because I refuse to sleep with him.”
“It’s not your fault,” Ezra said.
“Did I say it was?” Holly asked coolly, lifting a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at him. “Kevin was a sick monster long before I came along. Those girls’ deaths are on him…not me. I won’t be losing any sleep over this. In fact, I’ll probably sleep better tonight than I have in years.”
“What’ll happen to Kevin?” I asked, looking to Annie for answers. “Will the High Council reinstate him? Or will they kill him?”
“My guess is they’ll probably stake him,” Annie said with a frown. “But the High Council doesn’t always do what they should. They may believe that the lives of a few dead girls aren’t as important as his standing in the community. With so much public exposure, we can’t afford to let word of his actions get to the media. The High Council may just sweep it all under the rug in exchange for the silence of everyone involved.”
“What do you think they’ll do?”
“Personally, I hope they really do stake him,” she said. It sounded like she was making a real effort not to sound too gleeful, but it was obvious she disliked Kevin as much as the rest of us. “Even if he promised to behave from now on, there’s no guarantee he would keep his word. Better to just get rid of him and all evidence of his crimes.”
“Good riddance,” Finn muttered.
“Annie, what happens now?” I asked. She hesitated, and I could feel the tension in the room go up a notch or two. “An
nie? What’s wrong?”
She looked down, refusing to meet my eyes. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but…we have to find Tabitha’s spirit.”
My heart sank in my chest, settling in the pit of my stomach like a rock. “What do you mean? She’s banished, isn’t she?” I asked, refusing to believe what I was hearing. After everything I had been through in the past months, I had finally thought it was all over. I thought there would be no more pain and heartache.
“No, she’s not. Her spirit managed to escape the Compound after I excised her from your body. We don’t know where she is, but the Council and I are sifting through every bit of her life to figure out where she might have gone. None of us truly believes she’ll give up her plans, so I’ll be keeping a close eye on you to make sure she doesn’t try possessing you again.”
“Why didn’t you get rid of her?” I shouted, startling everyone in the room. Tanya flinched and looked away, her wings drooping behind her dejectedly even though she wasn’t the target of my fury. Ezra crossed his arms over his chest, looking miserable. Holly examined her painted nails, refusing to look at me just like everyone else. I could feel the disappointment in the room.
Annie alone made eye contact with me, looking me squarely in the eyes. “It was either let her go, or banish the two of you together. I had a split second to make a choice, and whether you agree with that choice or not doesn’t concern me. Right or wrong, it’s too late to take it back now. You’re here, and so is Tabitha. Deal with it.”
Finn shifted angrily beside me. “Annie—”
“Don’t,” she interrupted him, not even taking her eyes off of me. “Ronnie, if you’re going to help me get rid of her, you’re going to have to let go of your anger at the situation. It will only cloud your judgment, and I can’t have that. We need to be level-headed. If you wanna hate me for the choice I made, more power to you, but you need to put it aside until this is finished. Do you understand?”
I sighed, feeling the weight of her words in my heart. “I understand. And I don’t hate you, Annie, or the choice you made. I just wish it hadn’t been necessary.”
“I wouldn’t have made it if it wasn’t necessary. When I let go of Tabitha to pull you back to the light, you were already half in the Outer Planes, where your mother resided for years after her death. From there, you would have only been able to on to the Other Side, or remain there in limbo until all of your power was gone. And with how much of your power you exhausted trying to banish Tabitha, it wouldn’t have taken long for you to move on. You probably wouldn’t have even been able to say goodbye to anyone other than another necromancer.”
“Speaking of other necromancers, where’s Beth? I need to set her straight about some things Tabitha said or did around her. Her aura was looking a little dark the last time I saw it…” I stopped, realizing that everyone in the room had gone silent as an empty graveyard. “What am I missing? Finn, what’s going on?”
“Nobody knows where Beth is,” Ezra said quietly.
“What do you mean?” I asked, nearly shrieking at him. I was too exhausted and mentally fatigued to care about being rude. “How could you guys lose her?”
“She disappeared right after we got you back. By the time we thought to check on her, she was already gone. Her room was a mess, and she didn’t leave behind a note or anything. I think it’s safe to assume Tabitha got to her before we did. They’ve teamed up—and from what you just told us, it might not have been one hundred percent involuntary.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “Beth would never go with Tabitha willingly. She may have been having a few problems, but she wasn’t evil. Far from it. She was too innocent for Tabitha to influence her.”
“She was always young,” Holly pointed out. “She was only a child, not even a teenager yet, right? It wouldn’t be too hard for Tabitha to convince her she had something to be angry about, especially if her parents were just executed by the Council for their crimes. There had to have been a lot of hate pent up inside of her. Tabitha gave her an outlet for it.”
I ducked out from under Finn’s arm and threw back the covers of my infirmary bed. Finn reached out to stop me, but I gently swatted his hand away and swung my legs over the edge of the bed, standing on weak legs. Annie reached out and steadied me when I swayed. “Does the Council know that she’s gone yet?” I asked her.
My mind was rapidly whirring, just like a fan’s sharp blades. If I could locate Tabitha before the Council found out, I could banish Tabitha and bring back Beth before anyone knew that she was gone. All I had to do was convince her that Tabitha’s path wasn’t right, and that she wasn’t cut out for a life of evil. Hopefully she would listen to me before she got into even more trouble.
“We have to protect Beth. If they find out what’s happened, there’s no way they’ll let her live when I bring her back. They’ll execute her just like they did her parents. I won’t let that happen. I’m responsible for this, and I’m going to fix it.”
“Ronnie, the Council already knows.”
I froze, refusing to believe my ears. “Who told them?” I asked, looking at my friends one by one through narrowed eyes.
“I did,” Annie said, startling me.
She and I looked at one another, measuring each other up. I couldn’t believe my ears. Anger shot through me until I was nearly shaking with rage at the sight of her. “Why would you do that?” I asked tightly. “You of all people should understand what we go through. How easy it is for us to stray. You had no right to tell them!”
“I had to do it. As a newly appointed member of the Council, it was my duty to inform them of Tabitha’s actions. Beth’s as well. Marcel and Lisa aren’t unreasonable. If we can persuade them to see Beth as an innocent child who was taken advantage of by Tabitha, we might be able to get them to go easy on her. But first, we have to find her and convince her to come back.”
“You’re on the Council?” Ezra asked, eyes wide.
“Temporarily. Marcel and Lisa held an emergency Council meeting and they agreed to vote me on for the time being. They both know that Kevin won’t be coming back, so they’re trying to get things back on track. And while hunting a dangerous necromancer, who better to have on their Council than another necromancer?”
“Will you speak on Beth’s behalf with me?”
“Of course. Like you said, I understand what we go through. I’ve gone through it myself in the past. If you can find Beth and convince her to abandon Tabitha and come back, I’ll make sure she’s given a fighting chance. But for now, we have to meet with the Council. They’ll be expecting you now that you’re awake. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can start looking for Tabitha.”
“What does the Council want with me?”
Annie started for the door, and I struggled to keep up with her. My legs felt like I was walking on pins and needles, and I felt as weak as a newborn lamb. “They want your version of events. I’ve told them what I know so far, and Finn filled them in on what took place in your room, but they need to know everything. Every little detail. So make sure to leave nothing out.” She stopped at the door and made sure I was following her.
The walk down to the Council meeting room was long and tiring, and I had to rely on Finn to help me get there. When we finally arrived, I was breathless and my legs burned. It felt like I had been lying in bed for weeks, unable to move, and then I had decided to get up and run a marathon. They felt like jelly, and I was worried they might give out on me at any second.
We walked through the double doors, and I tried to think of how many times I had done that since arriving at this place. It had to have been at least thirty, and I was starting to get really tired of it. I just wanted to live my life with as much joy as I could, and these people and their goals and tasks and rules and problems were making that very difficult. If they could just leave me alone, I might actually have a chance to live a normal life—at least as normal as I could ever be.
Marcel actually smiled when he saw me
, but I could see the sadness in his eyes. It was strange to think that this man might actually care about me, even though I had given him plenty of reasons not to. Strangely enough, he even seemed to approve of my rule breaking, even encouraging it at one time or another. He nodded to Annie as she took her place beside him, looking strangely at home behind the table, like she was meant to be in the position.
“Ronnie, we would understand if you needed more time before we—”
“No,” I said, interrupting him. “I just want to get this over with, once and for all. I can’t take much more of this, so the sooner we get it done the better.”
Marcel nodded. “I understand. Hopefully, your story can provide us with some kind of clue as to where she might be hiding out. Please, start from the beginning, and don’t leave anything out. Not even the tiniest detail.”
“I was lying in bed when Tabitha appeared to me. Two Socks started to hiss, and I opened my eyes. She was hovering above me, and she smiled. Before I could even brace myself, she was inside my mind, forcing me out. I tried to fight her, but she was too powerful. Just like me, she became more powerful after dying. She locked me away in a mental prison, and no matter what I did, I couldn’t break through it.
“She had total control of my body, and she spent some time in my room, practicing to try and pass herself off as me. Her plans for revenge required her to get close to my friends, so she went along with things, trying to act like how she thought I would act. I kept waiting for anyone to realize that I wasn’t acting like myself, to realize that something was wrong. But nobody did.
“She broke into some storeroom and stole a vial of poison and she slipped it into Tanya’s ice cream. She knew all about the antidote, and she planned to let Tanya suffer in agony while she finished the rest of her plans. She knew that with Tanya suffering, Ezra and Finn wouldn’t be as focused on her and what she was doing, so it would be easier for her to move on to the next step of her plans. Her next target was Holly, because she was the biggest threat.”
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